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Updated: 11/1/06; 8:33:17 PM.

 

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Sunday, October 1, 2006

Cenk Uygur: The Republican Protection Racket.

Is there anything these Republicans won't cover up? Duke Cunningham took millions of dollars in bribes. The people who were buying him off bought him a yacht called the Duke-Stir. He had a bribe menu on Congressional letter head. How many ethics investigations? Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Bob Ney took gifts and favors from Jack Abramoff. He has confessed and is about to go to prison. How many ethics investigations? Zero. None. Not one.

Then there is Hastert's shady land deal. Bill Frist's insider trading. Tom DeLay's money laundering. The list goes on and on. Every one of them had their ass covered by the rest of their Republican colleagues, crooks, whatever you want to call them.

When Joel Hefley, a conservative Republican from Colorado, had the temerity to actually do an ethics investigation of Tom DeLay - he was removed. Can't have it. You can't have any ethics investigations in a place with no ethics. The house will fall in.

Well, now it has. Because they've gone too far. This time they covered for a sexual predator. Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, was caught sending very explicit sexual messages to 16 and 17 year old boys who worked as pages for Congress.

Actually, he was caught by a fellow Republican, Rodney Alexander, because one of the pages worked for Rep. Alexander and turned Foley in. So, what did the Republicans do about it? Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

They covered it up. Because it's what they do.

The Republican Protection Racket stepped in and made the story go away. There was no public apology to the boys that were sexually harassed. No criminal investigation. No ethics investigation. Not a word.

The Republican leadership knew for most of the year. In all that time, while other kids could have been exposed, while they knew of several instances of sexual advances toward underage boys - they did nothing!

Now, they feign outrage. Why weren't they outraged when they first found out about it? They're not outraged because young boys were jeopardized. They're outraged now because they're jeopardized.

But it gets worse. They left Foley in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. Come on!

If you put it in a movie about a corrupt Congress, I wouldn't believe it. It's too over the top. You'd walk out of the theater saying, "That's too much. No one would do that." Apparently they would and they did.

Remember this is the same Republicans who spent 140 hours investigating Bill Clinton's Christmas card list. I'm not kidding. They even started an investigation into his cat. If you put it in a movie, no one would believe it.

Not one investigation into what's gone wrong with the war in Iraq, the $9 billion dollars missing in Iraq, why a CIA agent's name was leaked, why Osama bin Laden hasn't been caught or any of the corruption scandals. But they spent 140 hours on the Clinton Christmas list (it turns out they were just Christmas cards, in case you were wondering). They're not even trying to appear fair. They think there's nothing you won't let them do. They're in charge and they can get away with anything.

Now in this case, I think sex scandals are a dime a dozen. Mark Foley resigned. I'm not that interested in that story. He could have been a Democrat, a Republican or a Federalist. Every party has people that do terrible things. This isn't about that.

This is about a Republican Party so corrupt there's nothing they wouldn't cover up to protect their own. If that means your money is misspent or stolen, fine. If that means some Congressmen commit illegal acts to get rich off your back, fine. Apparently, it also means if your kids are exposed to a sexual predator while they are supposed to be learning about our government, even that's fine.

But it's not fine. Not by a long shot. Read what the Congressman wrote to an underage boy that was working in the House of Representatives (the Congressman is Maf54):

Maf54 (8:03:47 PM): what you wearing
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:04 PM): normal clothes
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:09 PM): tshirt and shorts
Maf54 (8:04:17 PM): um so a big buldge
Xxxxxxxxx (8:04:35 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:04:45 PM): um
Maf54 (8:04:58 PM): love to slip them off of you
Xxxxxxxxx (8:05:08 PM): haha
Maf54 (8:05:53 PM): and gram the one eyed snake
Maf54 (8:06:13 PM): grab
Xxxxxxxxx (8:06:53 PM): not tonight...dont get to excited
Maf54 (8:07:12 PM): well your hard
Xxxxxxxxx (8:07:45 PM): that is true
Maf54 (8:08:03 PM): and a little horny
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:11 PM): and also tru
Maf54 (8:08:31 PM): get a ruler and measure it for me
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:38 PM): ive already told you that
Maf54 (8:08:47 PM): tell me again
Xxxxxxxxx (8:08:49 PM): 7 and 1/2
Maf54 (8:09:04 PM): ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Maf54 (8:09:08 PM): beautiful
Xxxxxxxxx (8:09:38 PM): lol
Maf54 (8:09:44 PM): thats a great size
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:00 PM): thank you
Maf54 (8:10:22 PM): still stiff
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:28 PM): ya
Maf54 (8:10:40 PM): take it out
Xxxxxxxxx (8:10:54 PM): brb...my mom is yelling
Maf54 (8:11:06 PM): ok
Xxxxxxxxx (8:14:02 PM): back
Maf54 (8:14:37 PM): cool hope se didnt see any thing

He was supposed to be protecting him. He was Chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus!

After all this, they still covered for him. They didn't even take him off the Exploited Teen Caucus. They left him in charge. Because they don't care. They don't care about anybody but themselves. They are driven mad with power. Their only goal is to stay in power. Now, the question is, are you going to let them get away with it? Are you going to let them keep that power, knowing what they've done with it?

The Young Turks

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7:50:57 AM    comment []

Steve Young: WILL O'REILLY PUSH FOR A LAW TO STOP REPUBLICAN CHILD MOLESTERS AND THOSE WHO PROTECT THEM? Will Onion Sue GOP For Conceptual Theft?.

by Steve Young with a Crucial Assist from Ms. Sandy Sands

The allegations of a child predator being amongst their ranks have been known by Republican leaders for close to a year and they let him continue to serve.

Let me repeat that.

The allegations of a child predator being amongst their ranks have been known by Republican leaders for close to a year and they let him continue to serve. Serve and legislate to you...AND YOUR CHILDREN!

Satire? Funny? As a crutch, Rich.

If the Republicans refuse to protect underage children in harm's way, how can we expect them to protect our older children in harm's war? Say, in a war. A war where information detrimental to your children has been known for years yet concealed so that the war abusing hundreds of thousands, men, women and children, could continue.

Simply, we shouldn't expect them to protect our kids. Why? Because the only thing the Republicans in power care to protect is their power, whether that be an alleged child predator or an entire country's predator.

Mark Foley's folly with kids should remain the prime illustration of everything that is wrong with the GOP. Not that they all molest children, that we know of...yet. But that the Republican Party will go to any length, hiding NIE reports or excusing comments of "The insurgency is in it's last throes" and inadequate body armor as just "commas" or nanoseconds" in history.

Oh, to be sure, they'll be out there castigating Foley now and how they find his actions reprehensible. "My God, the last thing we'd want to do is empower the child molester, especially the child molester we've been empowering the last year."

Monday morning Hannity will undoubtedly dip into his litany of Clinton blow jobs and Kennedy's Chappaquiddick, as well as what terrific cars General Motors make, to counter what should be a pox infecting the body (used to be) Grand Old Party. He has to. They all serve to put food on his table. Ruth Chris grade food for his children. The question Sean has to ask is: Would Mrs. Hannity allow her children to be babysat by the same guys who allowed Foley to remain to chair the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus?

That's right. Up till this past week, Denny Hastert, John Boenner and the rest of the Republican good old boys kept 52-year-old Mark Foley (R, FLA), who was sending "are you horny" e-mails through the Internet to a 16-year-old boy, to stay on in office AND as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus. This is same Foley who had introduced legislation in July to protect children from exploitation by adults over the Internet.

Websters needs to strongly consider retiring the word "hypocrite."

And this is the same Foley who said that, "We track library books better than we do sexual predators." Certainly, Foley should know. One wonders how long he's been getting away with it and what the depths his deceit of the public has wrought.

If it weren't so all-firing sad, it would all make for a great Onion story.

The office of House Speaker Hastert, who earlier said he'd learned about the e-mails only last week, admitted sending the information to the authorities last fall. They said they were only told the messages were "over-friendly." Over-friendly? What do they think of out boys coming home in boxes? Over-wounded?

Soccer moms, Baseball dads. Mr. and Mrs Bill "Jessica's Law" O'Reilly. The Hannitys. Focus on the Family members, whose founder James C. Dobson, told you this week that it would be "downright frightening" if Republicans lost control of Congress. Every single voter needs to ask themselves who are the ones who are really "downright fightening."

Ask yourselves what else the Republicans have hidden when selling the Iraq War while selling out the country to foreigners, out-sourcing well-paying jobs while in-sourcing cheap labor.

Ask yourselves why, really why, the GOP allows drug companies to write prescription drug legislation and support credit card companies against the public in making it nearly impossible for honest citizens to file for bankruptcy even when it was caused by undue medical charges.

Ask yourselves why there was no attempt to secure our borders until days before an election.

Ask yourselves whether you should trust those who hid a child abuser with your children and their future.

Look at your children.

Then ask yourself why the hell you would give these guys another chance?

Steve Young is author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful" (Tall Fellow Press) and the wacky new children's novel, "15 Minutes" (HarperCollins)

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7:47:24 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2006 Patricia Thurston.



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